VILLAIN'S HAREM IN OTOME GAME

Chapter 16: Library meeting

The blue light inside the mana stone suddenly turned into violent red and blinding light suddenly swallowed the entire workshop.

And boom!

The mana stone detonated like a high tier explosive magic spell.

As the razor-sharp shards flew toward her, Noreila instinctively closed her eyes shut, crossing her hands over her small face.

She’s late, she can’t use defense magic immediately, and it’s over for her now.

But instead of heavy piercing pain, she felt a heavy, warm figure completely enveloping her. As the blinding light finally faded, Norelia slowly blinked her eyes open, her heart frantically hammering against her ribs.

To her surprise, Eren was entirely over her, using his own body as a physical shield. He hadn’t let a single piece graze her.

"You okay, Noreila?" Eren asked like casual, though his breath uneven slightly from the adrenaline. He offered her a small, trademark smirk, completely ignoring the minor detail that a magical grenade had just detonated directly against his spine.

Norelia stood frozen in absolute horror, red eyes wide as tea saucers. She knew the raw math behind that explosion. The speed and sharpness of those shards should have pierced through flesh, muscle, and bone, turning his back into a bloody mess.

"Eren! Your back! Move—let me see!"

She grabbed his shoulders in panic, her small hands trembling as she prepared herself for a gruesome show. She was already mentally calculating how much healing spells she’d need to use to save his life.

But she stopped dead instead, blinking rapidly as if she had just been hit by a confusion hex.

The back of his shirt is completely obliterated, shredded like a cheese. But what makes her mind go blank is that his well-toned back didn’t even have a scratch on it, looking completely smooth like it’s made up of steel.

"What... what in the world are you?" Norelia whispered in pure shock, her fingers shaking just above his skin.

"Doesn’t matter right now," Eren shrugged, casually peeling off the so-called remaining shirt loosely hanging on his body and tossing it aside. He was completely unbothered by the fact that he was now standing half-naked in the middle of a smoking room.

He turned to derbies, blue eyes locked on the testing doll on the work bench. The tragic figure, the doll, has a massive, burned hole right in its chest. Fortunately, their spider-like device was intact; only the mana stone had been vaporized, along with a few minor burned components.

"What went wrong? I thought the plan was perfect." Eren asked, his voice turning a serious tone.

Norelia’s brain comes back online. She stepped closer to inspect the burned doll. "The mana stone’s capacity... it wasn’t enough to handle the sheer velocity of the intake."

Silence.

A heavy silence stretched across the workshop.

"What if... we use better grade crystal?" He pressed, clenching his healed fist.

Noreila shook her head sideways, her expression turning grim. "Raw capacity isn’t the issue, Eren. The structural integrity of a standard stone simply can’t withstand the massive, crushing force entering the matrix all at once. It choked on the input rate and fractured."

Eren’s jaw clenched tight.

CLANG!

With a sudden wave of frustration, he kicked a heavy tool laying on the ground, sending it flying across the room, clattering loudly against the stone walls.

"Damn it!" he muttered fiercely.

He took a deep, forced breath and turned back to the petite librarian, forcing a reassuring smile onto his face. "Sorry about that. You’ve worked hard enough, Miss Norelia. Go back to your quarters and rest. I’ll look for any alternative way."

Without waiting for her reply, he turned and walked out of the workshop, leaving Noreila alone there.

***

Later in the afternoon at her small, private room, Noreila lay flat on her comfortable bed, reading a highly suspicious book. Usually, these kinds of details would have her undivided attention. But today, she felt no longer reading it.

With a huff, she tossed aside, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

The image of frustrated Eren kicking that tool across the floor refused to leave her mind.

She couldn’t shake it off.

She knew that device wouldn’t work with a hundred percent guarantee when she signed that contract. It was just a highly funded distraction for her.

Yet, after working hard for the first time in her life, and spending every hour with a supposedly useless brat like him, her heart had cheered for its success.

"And he just had to go and look like a hero," she grumbled, her cheeks warming as she remembered the smooth, scratchless of his bare back shielding her from the blast.

Seeking a distraction, she grabbed the vibrator laying right beside her. She held it up, staring at the flawless engineering marvel in history made by a shameless idiot.

"Oh, fuck it," Norelia muttered fiercely, tossing the scandalous thing aside lazily.

Her body was too tense, her mind too restless, and her favorite books were completely ruined by the phantom image of a half-naked brat.

Giving up on her precious afternoon nap, she decided to head back to the estate library to search for a solution herself. There had to be historical records somewhere in the archives.

She finally reached the library.

Silence.

She hadn’t visited her actual place over the last two weeks. She walked straight over to the mana engineering section, already scanning the shelves.

Immediately, she noticed some gaps. Several volumes regarding mana crystals were missing.

A knowing, tired sigh escaped her lips. She understood completely.

Grabbing a few remaining reference journals on ancient crystal metallurgy, she walked over to her usual, secluded reading spot in the back corner and saw exactly what she expected.

The black haired noble was sitting right there on the floor,casually flipping through a massive book. His blue eyes focused, while a small mountain of open books lay scattered around him like a fortress.

He didn’t look up, but a small smirk formed on his lips. "Welcome back to your kingdom, Miss Norelia. Come to find more research material for your... usual activity, or did you actually miss my charming presence?"

"Shut up," Norelia muttered with a soft, genuine smile instead of her usual drowsy mockery. "You’ve been here all day?"

Eren closed the heavy book with a soft thud and leaned against the bookshelf behind him. He let out a dramatic yawn, running his hand through his messy hair.

"Yaa. I’ve been drowning in books here since I left the workshop."

Norelia clutched the books tightly against her chest, looking at the books fortress surrounding him. "Would you mind if I join you?"

"Are you kidding? Why would I ever reject the offer of a cute girl joining me for combined study sessions?" Eren chuckled, his blue eyes flashing with his signature, unbothered smirk.

He casually patted the empty patch of floor right next to his legs. "Take a seat, Miss Librarian."

Norelia walked toward him. But instead of dropping onto the carpet beside him, she was directly in front of him.

Before Eren’s brain could register the sudden change in her trajectory, Norelia turned around and sat right down on his lap, completely deep frying Eren’s brain.

’Whoa, hold on. Wait a minute,’

Eren’s entire nervous system instantly short-circuited, his eyes widening in absolute shock.